What's behind timing of terror threat

By Peter Bergen, CNN National Security Analyst, and Bailey Cahall, Special to CNN

Updated 11:45 AM ET, Tue August 13, 2013

Photos: Attacks on U.S. diplomatic sites18 photos

Photos: Attacks on U.S. diplomatic sites – U.S. troops led the investigation of the site of a suicide car bombing and a gunfight near the U.S. consulate in Herat, Afghanistan, on Friday, September 13. Taliban militants attacked the consulate using a car bomb and guns to battle security forces just outside the compound. An intercepted al Qaeda message led to the closing of 22 embassies and consulates across the Middle East and North Africa on August 4. Take a look at other attacks on U.S. diplomatic sites in recent years.

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Photos: Attacks on U.S. diplomatic sites18 photos

Attacks on U.S. diplomatic sites – A suicide bomb goes off at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, on February 1. A security guard was killed and a journalist was wounded in the attack. The Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, or DHKP-C, took responsibility for the bombing.

Attacks on U.S. diplomatic sites – People flee the scene of a Taliban attack on the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, on September 13, 2011. Three police officers and one civilian were killed. There were no reports of U.S. casualties.

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Photos: Attacks on U.S. diplomatic sites18 photos

Attacks on U.S. diplomatic sites – Officials examine the aftermath of a terrorist attack outside the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar, Pakistan, on April 5, 2010. The coordinated attack involved a vehicle suicide bomb and attackers who tried to enter the consulate by using grenades and weapons fire. Two consulate security guards and at least six others were killed.

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Photos: Attacks on U.S. diplomatic sites18 photos

Attacks on U.S. diplomatic sites – Yemeni soldiers carry the coffin of a comrade during a funeral on September 25, 2008, in Sanaa. Heavily armed fighters attacked the U.S. Embassy in Yemen on September 17. A car bomb was detonated, killing 10 Yemeni police and civilians and six attackers.

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Photos: Attacks on U.S. diplomatic sites18 photos

Attacks on U.S. diplomatic sites – Relatives of slain police officers are comforted during a funeral in Istanbul, Turkey, on July 10, 2008, a day after the U.S. Consulate there was attacked. Three police officers and three attackers were killed in what the American ambassador to the country called "an obvious act of terrorism" aimed at the U.S.

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Photos: Attacks on U.S. diplomatic sites18 photos

Attacks on U.S. diplomatic sites – A bomb squad team collects evidence at a construction site where a rocket was launched near the U.S. Embassy in Athens, Greece, on January 12, 2007. The anti-tank missile tore through the embassy, but there were no injuries.

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Photos: Attacks on U.S. diplomatic sites18 photos

Attacks on U.S. diplomatic sites – A car exploded near the U.S. Embassy in Damascus, Syria, on September 12, 2006. Fourteen people were wounded. Syrian authorities killed three attackers and apprehended a suspect outside the building.

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Photos: Attacks on U.S. diplomatic sites18 photos

Attacks on U.S. diplomatic sites – A U.S. diplomat and his driver were among at least four people killed on March 2, 2006, in an apparent suicide attack outside the U.S. Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan.

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Photos: Attacks on U.S. diplomatic sites18 photos

Attacks on U.S. diplomatic sites – An attack on the U.S. Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, killed nine people on December 7, 2004. A Saudi group linked to al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack.

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Photos: Attacks on U.S. diplomatic sites18 photos

Attacks on U.S. diplomatic sites – A Pakistani police officer stands guard outside the U.S. Consulate in Karachi after a gunman opened fire there on February 28, 2003. Two police officers were killed, and six others, including one civilian, were injured.

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Photos: Attacks on U.S. diplomatic sites18 photos

Attacks on U.S. diplomatic sites – Family members of a victim who was killed by a bomb a day earlier embrace at a hospital in Denpasar, Bali, on October 14, 2002. A series of bombs killed more than 200 people at nightclubs while another attack occurred near the U.S. Consulate on the Indonesian tourist island. Authorities believe the attacks were coordinated.

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Photos: Attacks on U.S. diplomatic sites18 photos

Attacks on U.S. diplomatic sites – A previously unknown militant group called Al-Qanoon claimed responsibility for a bombing that killed 10 people at the U.S. Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, on June 14, 2002. The U.S. State Department says it suspects al Qaeda is responsible.

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Photos: Attacks on U.S. diplomatic sites18 photos

Attacks on U.S. diplomatic sites – Police officers stand next to the body of a victim after a car bomb exploded on March 20, 2002, at a shopping center near the U.S. Embassy in Lima, Peru, killing nine people.

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Photos: Attacks on U.S. diplomatic sites18 photos

Attacks on U.S. diplomatic sites – Christopher Sandrolini, the U.S. consul general in Calcutta, speaks with Indian officials outside the U.S. government information center in Calcutta, near the U.S. Consulate, where heavily armed gunmen killed five Indian police officers on January 22, 2002.

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Photos: Attacks on U.S. diplomatic sites18 photos

Attacks on U.S. diplomatic sites – Rescue workers stand on the remains of a building in front of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, on August 10, 1998, four days after a deadly attack. Twelve Americans were among more than 200 people killed in nearly simultaneous bombings at U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

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Photos: Attacks on U.S. diplomatic sites18 photos

Attacks on U.S. diplomatic sites – Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, center, walks past the damaged U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam on August 18, 1998. The August 7 attacks in Tanzania and Kenya were later attributed to al Qaeda.

Story highlights

That day is Ramadan 'Night of Power,' also seen by al Qaeda as good night for martyrdom

They say night of power has brought earlier terror attacks; embassies a favored target

Writers: Target may be Egypt, where earlier attack aimed; jailbreaks may also be factor

On Friday the U.S. State Department issued a worldwide travel alert because of an unspecified al Qaeda threat. The location of that threat, the department said in a bulletin, is "particularly in the Middle East and North Africa, and possibly occurring in or emanating from the Arabian Peninsula." As a result, an unprecedented 22 embassies and consulates in 17 countries in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia closed for a day on Sunday.

Sunday is also the 27th day of Ramadan and a particularly holy day for the world's Muslims as it is the "Night of Power," when the first verses of the Koran were revealed to the Prophet Mohammed.

It is also seen by al Qaeda's would-be martyrs as a particularly auspicious day to die.

Intercepted message spurs embassy closings – A recently intercepted message among senior al Qaeda operatives alarmed the U.S. State Department and led to the closing of 22 embassies and consulates Sunday, August 4, across the Middle East and North Africa. On Sunday afternoon, the State Department said it had extended the closures in 15 of the locations until Saturday, August 10, and added four other posts to the list. Click through to see which facilities are affected, beginning with the U.S. Embassy in Amman, Jordan, which is closed for the week.

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Embassy closings20 photos

Intercepted message spurs embassy closings – The U.S. embassy in Dhaka, Bangladesh, was closed August 4 but was scheduled to reopen on Monday, August 5.

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Intercepted message spurs embassy closings – The U.S. Embassy in the Saudi capital of Riyadh will be closed for the week along with the consulates in Dhahran and Jeddah.

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Intercepted message spurs embassy closings – The U.S. Embassy in Muscat, Oman, will remain closed through August 10.

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Intercepted message spurs embassy closings – The U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, Libya, is closed for the week.

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Intercepted message spurs embassy closings – The U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, was closed on Sunday and reopened Monday. The consulate in the Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif was also closed and reopened.

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Embassy closings20 photos

Intercepted message triggers embassy closings – The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, shown here under construction in October 2007, reopened August 5. The consulates in Basrah and Erbil, which were closed, also resumed normal business on Monday.

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Embassy closings20 photos

Intercepted message spurs embassy closings – The U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, shown here during a demonstration on September 11, 2012, will remain closed.

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Intercepted message spurs embassy closings – The U.S. Embassy in Antananarivo, Madagascar, was one of four embassies added to the list of facilities to remain closed for the week. The others were the embassies in Burundi, Rwanda and Mauritius.

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Intercepted message spurs embassy closings – The U.S. Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen, is closed until August 10.

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Intercepted message spurs embassy closings – The U.S. Embassy in Doha, Qatar, is closed for the week.

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Intercepted message spurs embassy closings – The U.S. Embassy in Algiers, Algeria, closed on August 4 and reopened the next day.

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Intercepted message spurs embassy closings – Officials announced that they would add the U.S. Embassy in Port Louis on the island of Mauritius to the list of facilities that will be closed for the week.

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Terror threat prompts embassy closures

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It was the day after the Night of Power in December 2001 that Osama bin Laden signed his will as he feared death from American bombs falling during the battle of Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan.

Al Qaeda and aligned organizations have a long history of attacking U.S. embassies and consulates, beginning in 1998 with the bombings of the embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, which killed more than 200, and including, most recently, the storming of the U.S. government facility in Benghazi, Libya, on the 11th anniversary of 9/11 last year.

For al Qaeda, these diplomatic compounds are attractive targets because they symbolize American power and because their locations are widely known. Indeed, several of the embassies and consulates closed on Sunday have been attacked by al Qaeda and affiliated groups before.

In Saudi Arabia, militants breached the outer wall of the U.S. consulate in Jeddah on December 7, 2004, killing five.

The U.S. embassy in Sana'a, Yemen, was targeted by an al Qaeda affiliate two times in 2008, attacks that killed 21.

On September 13, 2011, the Haqqani network, a Taliban group closely associated with al Qaeda, attacked the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, killing five Afghan police officers and 11 civilians.

Though U.S. officials have not confirmed the targeting of a specific embassy, it is likely that the American compound in Cairo is a particular point of concern. In May, three men were arrested by Egyptian officials, who said the men were planning to attack the embassy. Officials said they discovered 22 pounds of aluminum nitrate, instructions on how to make bombs, and materials published by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the network's North African affiliate.

Another possible factor in the timing of the al Qaeda alert is that in the past two weeks, massive jailbreaks in Iraq and Libya have released more than a thousand prisoners, some with significant ties to al Qaeda. Very few of those inmates have been recaptured.

The U.S. embassies in Baghdad, Iraq, and Tripoli, Libya, are among the facilities that will be closed on Sunday.

(Note: An earlier version of this story misstated the timing of Osama bin Laden's will signing.)